Republican Convention Ratings Down from 2008

By Christopher Peleo-Lazar

Continuing the trend, TV ratings for the final night of the Republican National Convention were down compared to 2008. 25.28 million viewers tuned in to see Mitt Romney accept the GOP nomination and Clint Eastwood make a... memorable appearance. The numbers were an improvement over the previous night's viewership, which was just over 20 million.

Yet again, audiences peaked during the finale speech. MSNBC actually peaked towards the end of the speech rather than the beginning.

Yet again, Fox News dominated in the 10-11 p.m. slot, doubling the next competitor with almost 9.1 million viewers. The next closest was ABC with 4.4 million viewers. The next nearest cable network was CNN with 2.3 million viewers.

Not surprisingly, all the networks had drop-offs from their 2008 numbers. NBC's fell by 56 percent with its audience. CNN also had an over 50 percent fall from 2008. Fox News had the least amount of drop off as they were almost flat compared with the record breaking 2008 introduction of Sarah Palin.

In 2008, the Democratic National Convention had set records before the Republican convention even took place. This year the situation is reversed but the networks will be hoping for improved numbers but likely won’t be on the same level as 2008.